1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a fabric system constructed with a plurality of fibre channel fabric apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a system construction method upon multi-connecting of fabrics and an identifier assigning method dividing addresses between a plurality of ports upon multi-connection and determining delivery destination at high speed upon establishing multi-connection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in this type of technology, upon establishing connection between a plurality of fibre channel fabric devices, an identification information is individually set for each fibre channel fabric device according to its connection.
In the foregoing prior art, upon establishing connection of a plurality of fibre channel fabric devices, the identification information has to be set individually for each fibre channel fabric device. Therefore, setting of the identification information has been quite troublesome.
On the other hand, in the conventional fibre channel fabrics, realizing of fabrics connecting a plurality of terminal nodes with one device has been difficult for necessity of quite high performance and expensive fabrics.
Furthermore, since sufficient E_Ports used for connection between the fibre channel fabrics are not provided, a problem has been encountered in occurrence of blocking and routing performance being not enhanced.
Upon establishing connection between a plurality of fibre channel fabrics, it is possible to establish connection by exchanging service parameter, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Heisei 8-249263. However, it is not possible to achieve sufficient performance by difference of the parameter.
A first objection of the present invention is to propose a fabric system and an identification information assigning method therefor for automatically setting an identification information of each fibre channel fabric device upon establishing connection between a plurality of fibre channel fabric devices.
A second object of the present invention is to propose a fabric system and an identification information assigning method therefor for significantly reducing load on management, such as externally and individually set, configuration information by performing intervention between connected devices and autonomously collecting and establishing configuration information.
A third object of the present invention is to propose a fabric system an identification information assigning method therefor, by realizing improvement of performance as whole system by sharing particular operation of the terminal nodes during delivery of the frame between connected fibre channel fabric devices and by reducing load of respective devices.
According to the first aspect of the invention, a fabric system connecting a plurality of fabric groups into a plurality of stages between terminal nodes and performing exchange of variable length frame, the fabric comprises
assignment signal transmitting means for transmitting an assignment signal fixedly assigned an identifier per port connected to other fabrics,
identifier assigning means for receiving said assignment signal transmitted from other fabric and assigning identifier determining own identifier according to a predetermined rule on the basis of said assignment signal,
configuration information transmitting means transmitting a configuration information indicative of correspondence of identifiers of the fabrics connected to the ports,
retrieval information preparing means for preparing a retrieval information for determining a fabric of transfer destination of the received frame per port and a port number on the basis of the identifier of each fabric and the configuration information, and
transfer destination determining means for determining the transfer destination of the frame on the basis of the retrieval information.
In the preferred construction, transmission of an identifier assignment signal by the assignment signal transmitting means and reception of the assignment signal from the identifier assignment means and assignment of the identifier are repeated until the identifiers are assigned for all fabrics.
In another preferred construction, one of the fabrics connected to a terminal node is taken as a master fabric, the master fabric has an identifier as an initial value, upon assignment of the identifier, initially, a fixed identifier is assigned per port.
In another preferred construction, the fabric system may comprise a first stage fabric group connected to one terminal node, a third stage fabric group connected to the other terminal node, and a second stage fabric group connecting the first stage and third stage fabric groups.
In another preferred construction, the fabric system may comprise a first stage fabric group connected to one terminal node, a third stage fabric group connected to the other terminal node, and a second stage fabric group connecting the first stage and third stage fabric groups,
one of the first stage or third stage being taken as master fabric having an identifier as an initial value;
next, the assignment signal being transmitted from the second fabric group, and
finally, sad assignment signal being transmitted from the fabric other than the maser fabric.
In another preferred construction, the transfer destination determining means of the fabric comprise
storage means for storing own identifier, retrieval information storage means for storing the retrieval information,
comparing means for comparing the identifier of the received frame and the identifier of the storage means per se, and
selecting means for selecting a port number included in the received frame as a port number of the transfer destination when the identifiers are matched as a result of comparison by the comparing means and the retrieval information is retrieved by the port number included in the received frame to select the port number of the transfer destination when the identifiers are not matched.
In another preferred construction, one of fabrics connected to terminals nodes as a mastering fabric,
the mastering fabric
has an identifier as an initial value,
transmits the assignment signal assigning a fixed identifier per port, at first, upon assigning the identifier; collects identifiers of all fabrics after completion of assignment of identifiers, prepares a conversion table converting the identifiers into second identifiers having smaller data length to distribute for all fabrics,
the fabrics distributed for the conversion table
prepare retrieval information for determining fabrics of transfer destination of the received frame per port and port number on the basis of the conversion table and the configuration information.
According to the second aspect of the invention, an identifier assignment method per each fabric in a fabric system connecting a plurality of fabric group into a plurality of stages between terminal nodes for exchanging variable length frame, comprising the steps of:
in the fabric,
transmitting an assignment signal assigning a fixed identifier per port connected to other fabrics,
receiving the assignment signal transmitted from other fabric and assigning identifier determining own identifier according to a predetermined rule on the basis of the assignment signal,
transmitting configuration information corresponding to identifier of the fabric connected to the port, and
preparing a retrieval information for determining the fabric of transfer destination of the received frame per port and the port number on the basis of the identifier of each fabric and the configuration information.
In the preferred construction, transmission of the identifier assignment signal, reception of the assignment signal and assignment of identifier are repeated until the identifiers are assigned for all fabrics.
In another preferred construction, taking one of fabrics connected to the terminal node as a mastering fabric having an identifier as an initial value, the mastering fabric transmits the assignment signal assigning fixed identifier per port at first, upon assigning the identifier.
In another preferred construction,
a first stage fabric group connected to one terminal node,
a third stage fabric group connected to the other terminal node, and
a second stage fabric group connecting the first stage and third stage fabric groups,
one of the first stage or third stage being taken as master fabric having an identifier as an initial value;
next, the assignment signal being transmitted from the second fabric group, and
finally, sad assignment signal being transmitted from the fabric other than the maser fabric.
In another preferred construction,
each fabric
compares the identifier of the received frame and own identifier, and
selects a port number included in the received frame as a port number of the transfer destination when the identifiers are matched as a result of comparison by the comparing means and the retrieval information is retrieved by the port number included in the received frame to select the port number of the transfer destination when the identifiers are not matched.
In another preferred construction, one of fabrics connected to terminals nodes as a mastering fabric having an identifier as an initial value,
the mastering fabric
transmits the assignment signal assigning a fixed identifier per port, at first, upon assigning the identifier; collects identifiers of all fabrics after completion of assignment of identifiers, prepares a conversion table converting the identifiers into second identifiers having smaller data length to distribute for all fabrics;
the fabrics distributed for the conversion table
prepare retrieval information for determining fabrics of transfer destination of the received frame per port and port number on the basis of the conversion table and the configuration information.
According to another aspect of the invention, a computer readable memory storing a computer program performing assignment of identifier per each fabric in a fabric system connecting a plurality of fabric group into a plurality of stages between terminal nodes for exchanging variable length frame, the computer program comprising the steps of:
in the fabric,
transmitting an assignment signal assigning a fixed identifier per port connected to other fabrics,
receiving the assignment signal transmitted from other fabric and assigning identifier determining own identifier according to a predetermined rule on the basis of the assignment signal,
transmitting configuration information corresponding to identifier of the fabric connected to the port, and
preparing a retrieval information for determining the fabric of transfer destination of the received frame per port and the port number on the basis of the identifier of each fabric and the configuration information.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the detailed description given herebelow.